Staff Cheers as Virus Patient Leaves ICU in Spain

▶️Medical staff at the General Hospital of Granollers in Spain clapped and chanted Friday as the first COVID-19 patient was transferred out of the intensive care unit to a general ward.

As of Saturday, Spain has reported more than 5,000 deaths from the new coronavirus and confirmed upwards of 65,700 cases, 51,000 of which are active. At least 9,000 infected people so far have recovered.

👉 A Chinese company offered Friday to replace thousands of faulty coronavirus test kits after Spanish health authorities – desperate for materials to cope with the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll – complained they did not work as promised.

China has sold face masks and other medical equipment through a series of personal contacts with Spanish authorities, including discussions between chief executives of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Spain’s King Felipe. But the first shipment of 640,000 test kits was found to have “insufficient sensibility” to reliably identify infected patients, according to Health Minister Salvador Illa, who announced Thursday that 58,000 kits had been returned.